The effects of starvation aren't always cured in the time between weigh in and the fight and fighters aren't always at the top of their game, anyway. Not saying you are right or wrong, I just don't think you are focusing on anything conclusive.
Yeah, he exposed Rios as being weight drained. Thats about it. Rios beat the living shit outta him, despite not being 100%. What else did Murray expose? His defense? We knew the first time we saw Rios fight that his defense was crap.
Right. Rios is not a protected cutie. He's what he is, a mexican swarmer. There's nothing to expose there. Nobody's saying he's top 10 either.
Did you see what Steve Kim wrote about Rios? He said Rios' manager told him Rios wasn't drinking water all fight week. Kim said when he asked Rios a question he couldn't believe how badly he slurred his words. Then goes on to say Rio's manager called Victor Conte for advice because Rios had only taken "drops" of water all week.
That's fine, and I'm sure he was drained, he did lose his title on the scales becuase he couldn't lose .6 pounds more. He's still never fought anyone worth a damn yet. How do we have "Champions" in this sport that have never faced a worthy contender? Only in boxing!
That's fucked, not drinking water for that long and could result in serious side effects before/during/after a fight. He's got to move up in weight and now.
Miguel Acosta is a damn good fighter. Anthony Peterson was favored to beat him. Antillion gave Soto a razor close fight in a war. Rios blew him away in 3.
Those 3 wins are solid, no doubt about it. Personally, I was impressed with the Acosta fight. He's a good fighter and he was BASHING Rios early, but Rios passed the gut check, didn't get discouraged, and ended up breaking him down. Z - you can't be serious judging him on this fight and saying he was exposed? Did you see him at the weigh in? He was so drained it was unbelievable, he looked like a zombie. If you don't think he's much good, that's fair enough, but it's not fair to judge him on this fight, he looked like utter shit compared to usual.
He has fought good fighters, though. You just don't really know what you're talking about. Only in boxing! Shove it, Z. :nono:
I consider the Acosta fight to be his best win, Acosta is a very solid boxer puncher, with good handspeed and power and counterpunching. Bizarrely though, he just lost to some random Panamanian with 20 fights. But yeah, despite Acosta losing, when Rios fought him he was a pretty good, solid fighter. Peterson was favoured to beat him and Urban Antelope was expected to give him a decent test.
Blame the sanctioning bodies. They are responsible for who gets to fight for their titles. However, I think Rios has beaten 'a worthy contender'. More than one. I think Anthony Peterson, Miguel Acosta, and Urbano Antillon are all legit contenders or were when Rios beat them. But then we get to the 2nd part...blame the fans. In this case, blame yourself. Why? Because you are considering Brandon Rios to be a champion in the first place. He's not. He's a WBA interim champion. Juan Manuel Marquez is the WBA world lightweight champion and he has earned 'super' champ status which doesn't change what he is, only gives him some perks for defending his title.
